Re: 4/17/03 - AP/Hartford Courant: New Haven Police Chief Melvin Wearing To Retire
New Haven Police Chief Melvin Wearing To Retire
4:10 PM EDT,April 17, 2003
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing will retire at the end of the month, ending a 35-year career in law enforcement.
Wearing became the Elm City's first black police chief in 1997, capping a career that began in 1968 as a patrolman.
He is taking a $20,000 early retirement package that the city offered.
"It's just time to move on. I had a wonderful career in law enforcement," he said Thursday.
Wearing, 59, backed community policing and oversaw a crackdown on street crime. He also promoted early intervention with young people to prevent crime and partnered with the Yale Child Study Center to help children who have witnessed violence or trauma.
Under Wearing's tenure as police chief, crime in New Haven dropped to its lowest level in decades. The crime rate has remained low, contrary to national trends.
"He can hold his head up because he's leaving the department when the city's crime rate is down," said Jorge Perez, president of the city's board of aldermen.
Wearing also dealt with a police department scandal, when the former head of detectives, Brian Sullivan, was accused of hindering a murder investigation. Sullivan is scheduled to go on trial this summer.
Police union President Louis Cavaliere said Wearing was one of the better chiefs he has worked with. He said he hoped a successor would be promoted from within the department.
Former Assistant Chief Douglas MacDonald also took an early retirement offer.
MacDonald's replacement, Assistant Chief Francisco Ortiz, was promoted in March. Ortiz will be the highest-ranking police official in the city after Wearing leaves at the end of April.
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